How to revamp failing mental health services after decades of neglect
What you need to know:
Due to decades of neglect, we are in the midst of a mental health crisis.
We need a targeted intervention to change the current slide into the abyss.
From our dysfunctional politics to worrisome happenings in the privacy of our homes, our mental health crisis is seriously affecting our national decision-making.
This month, we mark the Mental Health Awareness Month. And the Kenya Psychiatric Association at its Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference this past week launched a national conversation on mental health.
This is apt, given that over the past few weeks and months, many events have occurred in this country with clear and demonstrable mental health underpinning.
ACTIVATE BUDGET
Instances of violence, suicides and homicides, and other overtly abnormal behaviours, have been extensively covered in the media. Despite concerns about the unhelpful and potentially harmful way such information is treated in the media, the point has been made that our mental health needs should be urgently attended to as a nation.
A number of interventions are needed to jump-start the seemingly stalled momentum in our mental health landscape. First, legislation provides for a Kenya Board of Mental Health to oversee mental health services in the country. For a long time, this Board has not been constituted and empowered to perform its functions. As a result, it is difficult for much action to be taken to take the mental health agenda forward. It is time for the Cabinet Secretary to make arrangements to appoint members to the Kenya Board of Mental Health and activate its budget so that Kenyans have a focal point for all mental health issues.
Due to decades of neglect, we are in the midst of a mental health crisis. We need a targeted intervention to change the current slide into the abyss. From our dysfunctional politics to worrisome happenings in the privacy of our homes, our mental health crisis is seriously affecting our national decision-making. The President needs to take note of this crisis and make an executive appointment of an office to advise his government on mental health.
MATHARI HOSPITAL
This proposed advisor would have the role of advising the government on implementation of national mental health policy and legislation, and more importantly, would have a say on all proposals for new and existing legislation and policy to protect the mental health of our people. Many laws have mental health implications and such an advisor would advise on mitigation. Finally, our national mental hospital continues to operate at the level of a county hospital despite providing services at the level of a national teaching and referral hospital. All policy documents recognise Mathari Hospital as a national level facility that also serves as a training centre for a variety of mental health professionals. It is time to regularise the status of this hospital.
To address this, the Cabinet Secretary needs to do a couple of things. She must quickly organise for the appointment of a board for the hospital. The first order of business for the board would be to advertise for and recruit the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, whose task will be to operationalise the hospital as a level six facility. Current legislation and policy supports these moves, and the potential impact on mental health in the country is huge.
As we mark the Mental Health Awareness month, the government needs to take measures that will demonstrate that it values the mental health of its citizens. There can be no health without mental health.
Lukoye Atwoli is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Dean, Moi University School of Medicine; [email protected]
